WWU Students Take Honors at Collegiate DECA Conference

Western Washington University sent 18 students to compete at the 2015 Collegiate DECA Pacific Northwest Career Development Conference (PNCDC) in Victoria, B.C. Feb. 28-29, winning four first-place, one second-place and eight third-place awards.

The students competed in business simulations and case studies with varying career focuses such as accounting, hospitality, sports and entertainment, marketing and retail management.

The winners included: Kristine Burnham (Stanwood), first place in accounting; Liz Reynolds (Vancouver), first place in sports and entertainment marketing; Elle McGlocklin (Edmonds/Port Angeles), first place in marketing management; AJ Smith (Vancouver), first place in sports and entertainment marketing; Grant Allison (Camano Island), second place in retail management; Meghan Johnson (Covington), third place in hospitality; Brendon Wilsey (Coupeville), third place in sports and entertainment marketing; Stephanie Piccioni (San Francisco, California), third place in sports and entertainment marketing; Michelle Diep (Everett), third place in business to business marketing; Max Pendergast (Issaquah), third place in business to business marketing; Sam Dzingle (Federal Way), third place in marketing management; Sarah Wilson (Snohomish), third place in business ethics team and Cailtin Hanley (Skamina), third place in business ethics team. An additional four competitors qualified to move onto the ICDC by placing in the top five.

Students presented to business professionals from the Victoria area, creating a link between their studies and real-life business scenarios. Additionally, students were competing to qualify for the Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) held in Orlando, Florida, April 17-21. The Collegiate DECA ICDC brings roughly 2000 college students together from around the world to compete in business simulations, prepared presentations, and case studies.

This is the fifth year Western DECA has competed at the PNCDC since its formation in 2010.

For more information, or to help sponsor the club’s travel to Orlando, please contact chapter vice president Elle McGlocklin at wwudeca@gmail.com.